It’s often said Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year — and that holds true for criminals, too. The holidays are often filled with presents, cash, and decorations that present opportunities for the Scrooges of the world to take advantage of.
Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to make sure crime doesn’t ruin your holiday celebrations.
Check out these seven ways you can prevent holiday crimes.
1. Don’t be an easy target
Robbers are on the lookout for easy targets — homes that appear empty, easy to break into, or likely to have big-ticket items they can steal or sell later. They want to get in and out without being caught.
A few simple thing you can do to help ensure you’re not unintentionally attracting would-be criminals include:
- Break down boxes or take them to the recycling center. Don’t advertise that there is a new Xbox or 60-inch TV inside by leaving the boxes in plain view by your curb for trash pickup.
- Leave lights on around the house, even if you’re not home. A dark house is often an empty house, so leave a light or two on when you’re not home. Smart lighting can help with this by creating automated lighting schedules. You can also manually turn lights on and off at any time via the Vivint app.
- Don’t leave your gifts visible. If your Christmas tree is by a window, make sure your piles of presents aren’t visible from the outside.
2. Get a house-sitter if you’re going out of town
It can be pretty obvious to outsiders when no one is home, especially if mail and packages pile up and snow remains untouched and free of footprints. If you’re going out of town for the holidays, enlist the help of a neighbor or friend to housesit or stop by your house once a day while you’re gone to pick up mail, shovel snow, or keep an eye on things.
For round-the-clock monitoring of your home, consider a security system that provides 24/7 home security monitoring and support. They will even contact authorities if an alarm is tripped or something is amiss, so you can rest easy while you travel.
